(no subject)
Aug. 19th, 2015 06:18 amI have been adventuring! I hate cut-tagging posts, but if someone asks me I will cut-tag this one.
It is about 6 AM right now and my brain thinks that it's after 9. I can't drop my rental car off for another two hours, I can't get my badge for another four hours, and I can't sleep.
I flew into Seattle Sunday morning. I took the light rail downtown, stashed my bags, then walked over to the waterfront and checked out the Seattle Aquarium.
I enjoyed myself. It's not as big as some of the East coast aquaria I know, but because it's Pacific Ocean-oriented there were a lot of things I'm not used to seeing much of. And the underwater dome is really really cool- all sorts of Puget Sound-native fish all around you. I'm terrible at photography so most of my photos came out terrible, but here's a couple of decent ones.
Then I walked over to CenturyLink field for the Sounders match against Orlando. Everyone says that Seattle is the best place in the US to watch an MLS game and everyone is probably right... it was a blast. The fans were involved, singing and chanting and taunting and waving flags all game, the team is excellent, and I had an amazing view of the action from my second row goal line seats.
Sounders won 4-0, but three of those goals were scored after a late first half red card left Orlando shorthanded, and one of them was a garbage time goal in stoppage time.
Walking around Seattle afterward, I overheard a tour guide talking about the Smith Tower, which he touted as the tallest building west of the Mississippi back in the early twentieth century. He then admitted that there were a half dozen taller buildings in New York City at the time. It did my New York City superiority complex good.
The Smith Tower was, of course, overtaken as Seattle's tallest building by the Space Needle. I have seen the Space Needle. I do not have anything else to say about the Space Needle. In general, people in Seattle do not seem to have anything to say about the Space Needle.
I had dinner with friends and then collapsed. In the morning, I went to see the Seattle Underground tour, which is a tour of several of the tunnels constructed in the late nineteenth century when Seattle, the whole city, was literally raised up fifteen feet so that the sewer system would work. I found the tour glib and disappointing when it came to the details of Seattle's infrastructure, but I was fascinated by the overall idea that Seattle is a city that has spent its entire existence fighting against its own geography. And now I want to learn more about Seattle infrastructure.
I then walked to the Frank Gehry designed Central Library, which is a beautiful building and apparently a functional building, but which left me wondering to what degree that functionality is compromised by its beauty. The nonfiction stacks consist of a three story spiral from 0 on the Dewey up to 999, and I felt uncertain how this would affect useability, both from a user perspective and from the perspective of library management. It did not strike me as a setup that would be particularly conducive to a reconfiguration based on changing collection needs. I wondered what the experience of using the central library on a regular basis would be like... I'm not at all convinced that this is the sort of beautiful building that genuinely uplifts those who work within it, but I'm also not sure it's not.
I killed a few minutes reading the beginning of Stephanie Feldman's The Angel of Losses there, which![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ariadnes_string recommended a while back. It had a promising opening and I'm looking forward to digging deeper.
Then I met up with a friend for lunch and we hit the Seattle Art Museum together. Its collection is not all that comprehensive, but it was charming and enjoyable all the same. Highlights included a Donald Judd installation that really played well with the space it was housed in, an exhibition on updated takes on African mask traditions, Northwestern native art exhibits that juxtaposed contemporary artists against traditional art, and the suspended exploding white cars in the lobby.
Afterward, I walked to EMP, which had cool moments but was mostly a disappointment. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame was shit, the Star Wars costume exhibit was cool but overpriced, and the musical exhibits straddled this really awkward and uncomfortable line between corporate bullshit and musical appreciation. Suffice to say that the EMP was not at all equipped to discuss the question of Nirvana and 'selling out', and its absence was a giant hole in the Nirvana exhibit.
I did take my photo with Chewbacca, though! (My sister texted me when I sent it to her to say "Both of you had better shave for my wedding")
Seattle
I'm also kind of interested in peoples' take on the juxtaposition of these two RotJ costumes. I think the museum's attempt at a justification is not terrible on its own, especially for a super-corporate museum like EMP, but I think it is missing a lot of the important context on why Leia's bikini is problematic, especially with respect to its modern fandom usage as a nearly purely erotic symbol of female performative sexuality in a con setting. On the other hand, Leia truly is an iconic character precisely because she inhabits so many different kinds of femininity. The transition from her alien bounty hunter guise to her slave bikini outfit seems to me a more meaningful contextualization than just highlighting the bikini, and I appreciate that. I also appreciate that placing the bikini onto a mannequin is effective at desexualizing it. In general, it was fascinating to see these costumes on faceless mannequins, stripped of all the energy and meaning the actors provided to the costumes.
Transcription of the plaque underneath
Distinctive and iconic, the costumes of Star Wars are among the most successful ever created for film. Costumes such as the bikini that Princess Leia wears as Jabba the Hutt's slave, and the black robes of Darth Vader, make a vivid, lasting impression. They continue to loom large in the minds of the public even decades after they were first conceived. Worn by actors who skilfully bring the costumes alive, they attach themselves to particular moments in the narrative- and help make those scenes unforgettable. And, like all extraordinary costumes, they allow viewers to transport themselves into the film. The moment the actress Carrie Fisher appears on screen in the slave bikini, something clicks between the character and the audience. You make an immediate judgement that you didn't make before, and you see a side of her which has not been seen. up this this point, Leia had been concealed beneath modest white robes, and with this scene, her feminine side is thoroughly revealed. The costume is a type that can be traced to earlier films, such as Myrna Loy's turn as the native dancing girl in The Desert Song from 1929, Yvonne de Carlo in Slave Girl, 1947, and Maria Montez adventure films from the 1940s. These early vamp characters functioned largely as sexual objects, waiting to be molded by a male character. With the Leia slave bikini, however, George Lucas turns the idea of 'object' on its head. Leia is not a character that needs to be molded. She is exposed and temporarily humiliated, but she is is in control, plotting her revenge. ironically and somewhat brilliantly, the vehicle for her revenge is the costume itself- she uses her own chains to strangle her monstrous captor.
I then had dinner with another friend and then solved a jigsaw puzzle with my host for the rest of the evening. Because yes, staying in solving a jigsaw is my idea of a good time on a vacation.
Yesterday I rented a car and drove from Seattle to Spokane. There was an amusing little drama in the rental car agency when the guy in front of me on line tried to use a corporate discount code he'd found online to get a significant discount on his rental. The agent informed him that the company in question had cancelled the discount code because they knew it was out on the internet, but the guy still tried to wheedle his way into a discount before eventually caving.
The drive to Spokane was so worth it over flying. (I stopped in an art bookstore in Pioneer Square on Sunday. The guy at the counter was polite but gruff to me until he saw the book I was buying (Imogen Holst's memoir of Britten) and clearly approved of my taste. He asked me where I was traveling from and when I told him that I was driving rather than to Spokane his approval of my taste grew even greater.) If you ever need to go to Spokane, I highly recommend driving.
First you drive out of Seattle into the Cascades, through the Snoqualmie pass, massive conifers flanking the road for mile upon mile of breathtaking views. Then, you're clear through to the hilly scrublands of central Washington, farmland and cattle land for miles. You cross the Columbia River gorge with your heart caught in your throat. There's a 'scenic overlook' a half mile on which is the site of the Wild Horses monument, a dozen or so rusty iron horses perched on top of a steep hill overlooking the gorge. As I was in no hurry, I decided to climb up the trail to the horses for the even more stunning view of the gorge.
And now I'm in Spokane and Worldcon starts in just a few hours and I am so excited!!!
It is about 6 AM right now and my brain thinks that it's after 9. I can't drop my rental car off for another two hours, I can't get my badge for another four hours, and I can't sleep.
I flew into Seattle Sunday morning. I took the light rail downtown, stashed my bags, then walked over to the waterfront and checked out the Seattle Aquarium.
I enjoyed myself. It's not as big as some of the East coast aquaria I know, but because it's Pacific Ocean-oriented there were a lot of things I'm not used to seeing much of. And the underwater dome is really really cool- all sorts of Puget Sound-native fish all around you. I'm terrible at photography so most of my photos came out terrible, but here's a couple of decent ones.
Then I walked over to CenturyLink field for the Sounders match against Orlando. Everyone says that Seattle is the best place in the US to watch an MLS game and everyone is probably right... it was a blast. The fans were involved, singing and chanting and taunting and waving flags all game, the team is excellent, and I had an amazing view of the action from my second row goal line seats.
Sounders won 4-0, but three of those goals were scored after a late first half red card left Orlando shorthanded, and one of them was a garbage time goal in stoppage time.
Walking around Seattle afterward, I overheard a tour guide talking about the Smith Tower, which he touted as the tallest building west of the Mississippi back in the early twentieth century. He then admitted that there were a half dozen taller buildings in New York City at the time. It did my New York City superiority complex good.
The Smith Tower was, of course, overtaken as Seattle's tallest building by the Space Needle. I have seen the Space Needle. I do not have anything else to say about the Space Needle. In general, people in Seattle do not seem to have anything to say about the Space Needle.
I had dinner with friends and then collapsed. In the morning, I went to see the Seattle Underground tour, which is a tour of several of the tunnels constructed in the late nineteenth century when Seattle, the whole city, was literally raised up fifteen feet so that the sewer system would work. I found the tour glib and disappointing when it came to the details of Seattle's infrastructure, but I was fascinated by the overall idea that Seattle is a city that has spent its entire existence fighting against its own geography. And now I want to learn more about Seattle infrastructure.
I then walked to the Frank Gehry designed Central Library, which is a beautiful building and apparently a functional building, but which left me wondering to what degree that functionality is compromised by its beauty. The nonfiction stacks consist of a three story spiral from 0 on the Dewey up to 999, and I felt uncertain how this would affect useability, both from a user perspective and from the perspective of library management. It did not strike me as a setup that would be particularly conducive to a reconfiguration based on changing collection needs. I wondered what the experience of using the central library on a regular basis would be like... I'm not at all convinced that this is the sort of beautiful building that genuinely uplifts those who work within it, but I'm also not sure it's not.
I killed a few minutes reading the beginning of Stephanie Feldman's The Angel of Losses there, which
ariadnes_string recommended a while back. It had a promising opening and I'm looking forward to digging deeper.Then I met up with a friend for lunch and we hit the Seattle Art Museum together. Its collection is not all that comprehensive, but it was charming and enjoyable all the same. Highlights included a Donald Judd installation that really played well with the space it was housed in, an exhibition on updated takes on African mask traditions, Northwestern native art exhibits that juxtaposed contemporary artists against traditional art, and the suspended exploding white cars in the lobby.
Afterward, I walked to EMP, which had cool moments but was mostly a disappointment. The Science Fiction Hall of Fame was shit, the Star Wars costume exhibit was cool but overpriced, and the musical exhibits straddled this really awkward and uncomfortable line between corporate bullshit and musical appreciation. Suffice to say that the EMP was not at all equipped to discuss the question of Nirvana and 'selling out', and its absence was a giant hole in the Nirvana exhibit.
I did take my photo with Chewbacca, though! (My sister texted me when I sent it to her to say "Both of you had better shave for my wedding")
Seattle
I'm also kind of interested in peoples' take on the juxtaposition of these two RotJ costumes. I think the museum's attempt at a justification is not terrible on its own, especially for a super-corporate museum like EMP, but I think it is missing a lot of the important context on why Leia's bikini is problematic, especially with respect to its modern fandom usage as a nearly purely erotic symbol of female performative sexuality in a con setting. On the other hand, Leia truly is an iconic character precisely because she inhabits so many different kinds of femininity. The transition from her alien bounty hunter guise to her slave bikini outfit seems to me a more meaningful contextualization than just highlighting the bikini, and I appreciate that. I also appreciate that placing the bikini onto a mannequin is effective at desexualizing it. In general, it was fascinating to see these costumes on faceless mannequins, stripped of all the energy and meaning the actors provided to the costumes.
Transcription of the plaque underneath
Distinctive and iconic, the costumes of Star Wars are among the most successful ever created for film. Costumes such as the bikini that Princess Leia wears as Jabba the Hutt's slave, and the black robes of Darth Vader, make a vivid, lasting impression. They continue to loom large in the minds of the public even decades after they were first conceived. Worn by actors who skilfully bring the costumes alive, they attach themselves to particular moments in the narrative- and help make those scenes unforgettable. And, like all extraordinary costumes, they allow viewers to transport themselves into the film. The moment the actress Carrie Fisher appears on screen in the slave bikini, something clicks between the character and the audience. You make an immediate judgement that you didn't make before, and you see a side of her which has not been seen. up this this point, Leia had been concealed beneath modest white robes, and with this scene, her feminine side is thoroughly revealed. The costume is a type that can be traced to earlier films, such as Myrna Loy's turn as the native dancing girl in The Desert Song from 1929, Yvonne de Carlo in Slave Girl, 1947, and Maria Montez adventure films from the 1940s. These early vamp characters functioned largely as sexual objects, waiting to be molded by a male character. With the Leia slave bikini, however, George Lucas turns the idea of 'object' on its head. Leia is not a character that needs to be molded. She is exposed and temporarily humiliated, but she is is in control, plotting her revenge. ironically and somewhat brilliantly, the vehicle for her revenge is the costume itself- she uses her own chains to strangle her monstrous captor.
I then had dinner with another friend and then solved a jigsaw puzzle with my host for the rest of the evening. Because yes, staying in solving a jigsaw is my idea of a good time on a vacation.
Yesterday I rented a car and drove from Seattle to Spokane. There was an amusing little drama in the rental car agency when the guy in front of me on line tried to use a corporate discount code he'd found online to get a significant discount on his rental. The agent informed him that the company in question had cancelled the discount code because they knew it was out on the internet, but the guy still tried to wheedle his way into a discount before eventually caving.
The drive to Spokane was so worth it over flying. (I stopped in an art bookstore in Pioneer Square on Sunday. The guy at the counter was polite but gruff to me until he saw the book I was buying (Imogen Holst's memoir of Britten) and clearly approved of my taste. He asked me where I was traveling from and when I told him that I was driving rather than to Spokane his approval of my taste grew even greater.) If you ever need to go to Spokane, I highly recommend driving.
First you drive out of Seattle into the Cascades, through the Snoqualmie pass, massive conifers flanking the road for mile upon mile of breathtaking views. Then, you're clear through to the hilly scrublands of central Washington, farmland and cattle land for miles. You cross the Columbia River gorge with your heart caught in your throat. There's a 'scenic overlook' a half mile on which is the site of the Wild Horses monument, a dozen or so rusty iron horses perched on top of a steep hill overlooking the gorge. As I was in no hurry, I decided to climb up the trail to the horses for the even more stunning view of the gorge.
And now I'm in Spokane and Worldcon starts in just a few hours and I am so excited!!!